Good morning and welcome to your morning wrap of news, sport, and weather around Sydney for Monday, January 1. It’ll be partly cloudy again today with the slight chance of a late shower in the east and medium chances of thunderstorms in the west this afternoon. Temperatures are expected to hit 27 in the city and 33 in the west. Enjoy your day!

Teen charged over Yagoona crash that killed 17-year-old girl

Image: Channel 7

A teenager has been charged with negligent and dangerous driving after a car crash in Sydney's south-west on New Year's Day left one teenage girl dead and another fighting for life.

Emergency services were called to Brunker Road in Yagoona about 12.15am on Monday after a car carrying three people crashed into a parked ute, police said.

Emergency services worked to free the trapped teens, but the front seat passenger, a 17-year-old girl, died at the scene. Read more

Redfern needs major upgrades before 2020

There are no lifts at the busiest platforms at Redfern Station. Photo: Ben Rushton

Within a couple of years, about 10,000 Commonwealth Bank employees will begin work at Australian Technology Park, where the majority will be expected to catch a train to the adjacent Redfern Station.

But Redfern Station fails, for most commuters, to provide lifts or meet accessibility standards. With the impending arrival of the bank in 2020, this fact has helped prompt a flurry of meetings and attempted deals to try to upgrade the station. Read more

Primary principals slam axing of Reading Recovery program

Primary principals have warned that young students who struggle with reading risk falling further behind after the NSW Department of Education axed its $50 million Reading Recovery program despite "almost no consultation" with teachers.

The department has told principals that it will no longer support the intensive reading program for year 1 students after a report commissioned in 2015 found Reading Recovery was largely ineffective for most students. Read more

Exploding cannister blamed for Terrigal Beach fireworks mishap

The organiser of Terrigal's New Year's Eve celebrations has declared that the show will go on in 2018, despite a "freak" fireworks mishap that derailed this year's festivities.

Businessman David Lambert spearheaded a crowd-funding campaign that helped raise the roughly $40,000 needed to bring celebrations back to Terrigal for the first time in years. Read more

Students find brown snake eggs in Laurieton school sand pit

Students at a school on the NSW Mid North Coast got more than they bargained for when they discovered snake eggs in their sand pit.

Wildlife volunteers were called to the school in Laurieton on December 20 and removed 12 eggs from the sandpit. Read more

ICC set to deliver official rebuke of Boxing Day Test pitch

The Boxing Day Test wicket was on Monday on the verge of being the subject of an official rebuke from the International Cricket Council, who were expected to brand the heavily criticised wicket as below average at least.

The flat strip in Melbourne that contributed to a tame draw in the fourth Ashes Test was widely savaged, including by Australian captain Steve Smith after he scored his 23rd Test hundred on the fifth day, and by England skipper Joe Root. Read more